Natural gas can be converted to liquid fuels, such as gasoline, for use in transport vehicles. One of the more common methods of converting natural gas to liquid fuels is via syngas generation, which creates a H2+CO mixture, and then using a Fischer Tropsche (FT) reaction to generate the gasoline. The FT reaction also generates light-end byproducts, such as LPG and olefins, along with some inert molecules that were also in the syngas, such as N2, Ar, and unconverted CH4. These light-end products are also known as off-gases. Typically, these off-gases are burnt, with the heat being utilized for heating other streams, generating steam, and/or to produce power. However, there can be environmental concerns with the combustion of these off-gases.
Previous efforts to reform the off-gas have included steam-reforming or partial-oxidation. However, these efforts have faced serious challenges related to:                substantial quantities of inert gases such as N2 and Ar, which require larger sizes of equipment and reduce thermal efficiencies of the process;        presence of a large amount of CO, which greatly increases the potential for metal dusting of various pieces of equipment;        presence of olefins, which can decompose causing carbon formation and can require an additional hydrogenation step, further adding complexity to the system.        
Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a method of using these off-gases for another purpose that may bring higher value while also reducing the impact to the environment.